Mitropoulos set down these two Mendelssohn symphonies in a hurry. They were both
recorded on 2 November 1953 and he was in no mood to stretch out like a cat arching
its back in front of the fire. No, indeed, the Greek conductor was a beast of
altogether a different stamp, launching a tigerish dive on perceived pieties
in these works and driving his way through them.

He certainly takes the con moto indication seriously in the opening Andante
section of the Scottish, vesting it with rhythmic snap and directionality.
It then takes off with a surging, almost breathless vitality. The storm-pressed
moments of the symphony are conveyed with huge drama but whilst the slow movement
is sympathetically articulated its very terse sense of movement tends only to
promote one rather doctrinaire approach to the score. The original recording
was apparently - I’ve never heard it - very boxy and the gaps between movements
extremely small. The former seems to have attended to via XR opening out, but
the latter has been left ‘as is’.

The companion Reformation symphony conveys a similar sense of power and
speed, though of a markedly less extreme kind. So the tensile qualities here
sound rather more formal and acceptable and emerge as a taut and drama-laced
(rather than merely driven) performance. Once again, though, Mitropoulos’s
avoidance of extraneous romantic gesture means the reading is quite determinist
and those unsympathetic to his way with it will recoil from the occasional ferocity.

As a pendant we have a recording from 1953 of Morton Gould’s Philharmonic
Waltzes, a 1947 commission. This alternates between perky and pawky, and
takes in a wide and bustling range of influences - a long list amongst whom Milhaud,
Bernstein, and Strausses Richard (primarily) and Johann might find themselves
numbered. It’s finely played by the NYPSO.

This disc handily collates the two Mendelssohn performances, which will be the
motor of interest for Mitropoulos admirers. They will find their conductor on
energized form throughout, to put it mildly.